Many Costa Ricans welcome court ruling that they don’t have to use their father’s surname first

By JAVIER CÓRDOBA
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Many Costa Ricans are welcoming a ruling this week by the country’s Supreme Court of Justice eliminating the requirement that people use their father’s surname before their mother’s on identification documents. In Spanish-speaking nations, people usually go by two last names. In Costa Rica, if a man were named José and his father’s surname were Suárez and his mother’s Ortiz, by law he would have been registered as José Suárez Ortiz. The court’s decision maintains the requirement to use both names, but allows citizens to choose the order, giving them the freedom to put the mother’s first, as in Ortiz Suárez. 48-year-old messenger Carlos Barquero says “it’s right to recognize the mother as well.”